Pierre Carlet de
Chamblain de Marivaux {mah-ree-voh', pee-air' kahr-lay' duh
shahm-blan' duh}, b. Feb. 4, 1688, d. Feb. 12, 1763, the most
important French playwright of the 18th century, wrote numerous
comedies for La Comédie Française and La Comédie
Italienne of Paris, the most famous of which are The Game of Love
and Chance (1730; Eng. trans., 1923) and Les Fausses
Confidences (1737; trans. as False Confessions, 1958). The French
word marivaudage signifies the flirtatious bantering tone
characteristic of Marivaux's dialogue. He also published a number of
essays in the manner of Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele, and
two important though unfinished novels, La Vie de Marianne
(The Life of Marianne, 1731-41) and Le Paysan parvenu (The
Fortunate Peasant, 1735).